Waterproof GPS for Tortoises with wireless data transfer

Specifically designed with small carapace footprint

With so many different kinds of turtles and tortoises there is not a one size fits all GPS tracking solution available but that’s ok because we are going to design a GPS tracking system for your specific needs.

This is accomplished by first establishing the maximum weight that can be mounted onto the species you study and then determining which electronic package to begin with. After that we custom fit a battery into your package design so that we just bump up against your maximum weight. In this way we can maximize battery life without putting an undue burden on the animal.

Telemetry Solutions has designed and supplied GPS data loggers for successful studies of both turtles and tortoises and we offer the devices with remote data download as well.

GPS for Tortoises-How it works

Your GPS data logger will also contain a VHF transmitter so that you can manually track the animal and find it in order to recover the GPS data stored in the memory.There are two different methods for downloading data, either by USB cable or by wireless. If you choose the wireless option you can have either a manual data download or an automatic download.

The manual wireless download is achieved by tracking the animal and then when you are within the range of the Telemetry Solutions Base Station you use it to send a signal to the GPS data logger . That message instructs the data logger to send the data back to you. This is done with one click of a button and takes just a few seconds.

The automatic wireless data download option is done in the same way except that you would pre-position a base station in the field near a place where you expect the animal to be. The base station will detect the GPS data logger on the animal and the data will download automatically. That data is stored in a computer that is running the base station in the field. You can leave the computer and base station in the field as long as you like so that the new data can be continually downloaded. Recover the data by plugging any data storage device (running Windows O/S) into the computer.

Data are always retained in the data logger regardless of whether or not it has been downloaded. The data sets contain GPS positions that were taken at the times that you programmed before the data logger was deployed. Please note that GPS positioning will not take place when the GPS turns on under water.

To be successful, the product design relies upon a battery, a GPS data logger and a GPS antenna. Telemetry Solutions is very flexible with the placement of these three components, they do not all have to reside on top of the carapace. In fact, none of them need to reside on top!

Data output can be viewed in several different ways including exporting to Arc GIS or Google Maps or Google Earth as well as a number of other GIS programs.

GPS for tortoises